Negotiating meaning, negotiating place: Peer learning and student participation in the learning commons

Keith KirkwoodSchool of Language and Learning

Negotiating meaning, negotiating place

Peer mentoring and student participation in the Learning Commons

6th Canadian Learning Commons ConferenceUniversity of Calgary

7-9 May 2012

Presentation outline

• Victoria University, Melbourne Australia

• The Learning Commons

• Principles and pedagogy

• A tour of peer learning places in the Learning Commons and introductions to our mentors

• Future directions

Where is Victoria University?

Image source: http://odt.org/Pictures/sideb.jpg

Victoria University, Melbourne Australia -- not that Canadian one ;)

• Multi-campus – 11 campuses• Multi-sector university (higher ed, vocational ed, further ed)• VU students are culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD), with:

• a high proportion from low socio-economic status (SES), • part-time students, • first in the family university students, • mature-age students (60% over 25), and • students who work for more than 15 hours/week.

“The challenge for VU is to embrace its diversity and aim to maximise access and success for all its students.”

Kent & McLennan, 2007

Victoria University’s Learning Commons 2007-present

Collaborative service model established for the delivery of a range of student learning needs, consisting of a LC partnership between:

• Library• IT Services• Career services• Office of PG Research• Learning Support Services• Student Leadership

Peer mentoring components in the partnership:

• Student assistants (after-hours)• Students-as-staff• Peer-career advisers• Research Ambassadors• Student Rovers, Writing Mentors

Founding principles for the VU Learning Commons

Learning orientedFacilitates active, independent and collaborative learning

Learner centredFocuses on student needs, preferences and work patterns

University widePart of university-wide development of learner autonomy

FlexibleResponsive to the changing needs of learners for resources and support

CollaborativeBased on collaboration between different learning support areas in the university.

Community building Provides a hub for physical and virtual interaction for staff and students.

VU Learning Commons pedagogy

Putting learning into the learning commons.

“In a learner-centred environment, attention is paid to the experience, knowledge, skills, attitudes and beliefs that learners bring to the university.”

Learning is made visible through learner-centred pedagogies.

• Collaborative learning• Active and autonomous learning• Peer learning

(Gabb 2005 p. 1)

Student Rovers desk

Student Rovers

“Providing opportunities for student employment on campus together with a more ‘approachable’ level of service as the human face of the Learning Commons.”

Kiel, R., & Gallagher, A. (2011)

Rovers:

• Assist with basic student queries related to using and locating core facilities, information resources, software and hardware;

• Help students to clarify and articulate basic issues related to their learning strategies.

Student Rovers

Framing rovers as junior staff in a service delivery hierarchy is not the only way in which the rovers’ role can be construed. An alternative way of conceptualising rovers is to frame them as students; as student mentors who have demonstrated their practical understanding of academic institutions and practices by their good academic results. Understood in this way, rovers are students paid to be students, not students paid to be staff; they are ‘students as students’ rather than ‘students as staff ’.

(McCormack, Pancini & Tout, 2010, p. 46)

Student Rovers

Student Rovers

A Student Rover’s comment at the end of a shift:

“At the end of that day shift when I was in the train what I … realised was that at that moment not only professional help took place but a social network between a Rover and a student, a social network between a student and the learning commons, and finally, in a broader sense a network between a learner and VICTORIA UNIVERSITY took place in a positive way.”

(Kiel & Gallagher, 2011)

Rovers video: http://youtu.be/JnUxGvFsud0

Research Ambassadors area

Research Ambassador program

The Research Ambassador program is a joint initiative from the Office for Postgraduate Research (OPR), the Office for Research (OfR) and the University Library

Research Ambassadors at Victoria University provide peer-to-peer research support to both research students and staff in a range of areas including:

• quantitative and qualitative research design and data analysis • document formatting• EndNote • NVivo • data and file management • library research databases and other areas

In addition to face-to-face support, the Research Ambassadors created a Facebook page and Skype and Twitter accounts as methods of broadening their reach for communicating with clients.

Research Ambassadors

http://guides.library.vu.edu.au/seekRA

Research Ambassador

“Being a RA enables me to expose myself to the other disciplines colleagues are working on, which broadens my vision and enables me to approach my own research assignment from multiple angles. I wish I could spare more time learning from other RAs, as a process toward my professional development.”

Peer Career Advisors (PCA) area at Footscray Park campus

STUDENT CAREER DEVELOPMENT

PCA video: http://youtu.be/M_t9mx4P2HA

STUDENT CAREER DEVELOPMENT

http://www.facebook.com/victoria.jobs

STUDENT CAREER DEVELOPMENT

https://twitter.com/#!/Victoria_Jobs

STUDENT CAREER DEVELOPMENT

http://www.snap.vu.edu.au/blogs/

http://guides.library.vu.edu.au/writing_space

Writing Space entrances at two campuses

Writing Space – Footscray Park campus

Writing Space consultation

Writing mentor video: http://youtu.be/qlB2z_vDus8

Where to from here?

• Increased development of the mentoring learning community as the Learning Commons positions itself at the centre.

• Increased cross-referrals of the mentoring programs.

• Increased resource development by the mentoring groups.

• Increased student governance in the Learning Commons and student participation in curriculum renewal.

• Senior mentor roles provide increased leadership in T&L opportunities

ReferencesKeating, S., & Gabb, R. (2005). Putting learning into the learning commons: a literature review. Retrieved March, 2010 from

http://eprints.Victoria University.edu.au/94/

Keating, S., Kent, P.G. & McLennan, B. (2008). 'Putting learners at the centre: the Learning Commons journey at Victoria University', in B. Schader (ed.), Learning Commons: evolution and collaborative essentials. Oxford: Chandos, pp. 297-324.

Kent, P. G., & McLennan, B. (2007, 10-11 December). Developing a sustainable staffing model for the learning commons: The Victoria University experience. Paper presented at the International Conference on Information and Learning Commons: Enhancing its Role in Academic Learning and Collaboration, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

Kiel, R., & Gallagher, A. (2011, 30-31 March). Developing buildings, services and 'partnerships in learning’ at the Victoria University learning Commons. Paper presented at the 2nd Annual Learning Commons Development and Design Forum, Brisbane.

Kirkwood, K., Best, G., McCormack, R., & Tout, D. (2012). Student mentors in physical and virtual learning spaces. In M. Keppel, K. Souter & M. Riddle (Eds.), Physical and Virtual Learning Spaces in Higher Education: Concepts for the Modern Learning Environment (pp. 278-294). Hershey, PA: IGI Global.

McCormack, R., Pancini, G. & Tout D. (2010), Learningful work: Learning to work and learning to learn. In International Journal of Training Research 8: 40–52.

CONTACT DETAILS

Keith KirkwoodThe Writing Space

School of Language and LearningVictoria UniversityMelbourne Australia

PHONE +61 3 9199 4015EMAIL [email protected]://www.snap.vu.edu.au

Frances ONeilAssociate LibrarianInformation ServicesVictoria UniversityMelbourne Australia

PHONE +61 3 9199 4065EMAIL [email protected]

Adrian GallagherLearning Commons ManagerVictoria UniversityMelbourne Australia

PHONE +61 3 9199 4503EMAIL [email protected]

Garry PotterManager, Library Staff ResourcesVictoria UniversityMelbourne Australia

PHONE +61 3 9199 5932EMAIL [email protected]

Rob VaguePeer Career Advisors

Team Leader Careers EducationVictoria UniversityMelbourne Australia

PHONE +61 3 9199 4944EMAIL [email protected]